Total Pageviews

Monday, August 8, 2016

Take me out to the ballgame

Can we take you out to the ballgame ? they asked Who would not say yes ? Little did we know it would be a very special night. The retirement of Ken Griffey Jr's # 24 Yep. We were there that night.It started early in the afternoon when we met with our friends. Our Chauffeur let us out as we entered the parking garage. This would allow us to get a little head start for the line into the park.Well, it did not take long to realize that there was a long line. A very long line. We walked and walked and walked almost to Jackson street . This is blocks north of the field. Past Century Link field and beyond. We finally found the end of the line. When our Chauffeur had not joined us, we gave him a call. He was already at his seat. WHAT? A little misunderstanding, he did not call to let us know there was a short line. A much shorter line just around the corner from Safeco field. Now it is our turn to make a decision. Do we leave our now very slowly moving line to hope the shorter line was still shorter?

Let's just say, all 4 of us were in our seats about an hour and a half before the event was to begin. (It is now 4:45 )The retirement of Ken Griffey jr's # 24

That is Ken Griffey walking across the field waving and smiling

Oh, the first 20,000 fans received a replica of the plague of Ken, and our Chauffeur was in that number. And so were the folks who got in line at 6:00 A.M. Saturday morning.

At 6:10 the festivities began...lots of well known Mariners, # 24's, Hall of Famers, and up on the big screen a video of Willie Mays. He greeted Ken Griffey and told him to call him sometime. Ken pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed...looked like he was leaving a message and the audience erupted in cheers ( many cheers during the program )

On to the game. Very exciting. We won !! Very fun to sit between friends who really love the Mariners and are great cheerleaders throughout the game. A brisk walk back to the parking lot, by Century Link. This is when we get to work off any stiff muscles from sitting for 3 1/2 hours. We walk up the first three flights of stairs and Chauffeur realized this is the wrong floor. So we hop on the elevator which has room because it is going down and then coming back up, which is fine with us. We go right to the top, floor 6. No, that does not look right. So we walk down one flight. No, Must be one more. Chatted a bit with the security guy who thought it must be on the 6th floor. So we walk up and then seeing it is in the open air, we know that is not right. Down one more flight and YEP ! There it is. The nicest little red car you have ever seen. The traffic is not that bad and our Chauffeur knows exactly how to get out and back onto the freeway and before you know it, we are saying goodnight to our friends.What a great adventure !Thank you Al and Nancy !